Eagles, Ruffing pull away from New London

By Norwalk Reflector staff
•
Sep 28, 2018 at 11:49 PM

NEW LONDON — The host Wildcats grabbed an early lead, but Dominic Ruffing and the Eagles took control in Friday’s 42-21 win at Recreation Park.

After Ruffing threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Dublo to help the Eagles (3-3, 1-2) to a 6-0 lead — New London (0-6, 0-3) came back with a pair of touchdowns to take a 14-6 lead in the first quarter.

Peyton Wilson connected with Blake Dalton on a 9-yard TD pass, then found Josh Hess on a 42-yard strike. A pair of Alex Gaskill PATs gave the ‘Cats the 14-6 lead.

But the Eagles responded with three straight touchdowns to seize control. Chayce Schaub found Dublo for his second TD catch, a 21-yard connection. Ruffing ran in the conversion to tie the score at 14.

Ruffing then added TD runs of 19 and 58 yards, giving the Eagles a 28-14 lead. Ruffing had another big game, rushing 20 times for 183 yards with the two scoring runs.

New London looked to stick around, as Hess cored from a yard out in the third quarter to pull the ‘Cats within 28-21.

However, the Eagles got a 4-yard TD run by Adam Rogers in the third quarter, and Schaub pushed across from a yard out in the fourth. Gunner Howell made both PATs to close out the scoring.

For New London, Wilson was 12-of-27 passing for 129 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Hess ran 25 times for 118 yards and caught seven passes for 93 yards.

Monroeville hosts Crestview (2-3, 0-1) next week, while New London travels to Plymouth (2-4, 0-3).

Monroeville 6 14 15 7 — 42

New London 14 0 7 0 — 21

Scoring

MON — Dominic Ruffing 19 pass to Anthony Dublo (Daniel Smith kick)

NL — Blake Dalton 9 pass from Peyton Wilson (Alex Gaskill kick)

NL — Josh Hess 42 pass from Wilson (Gaskill kick)

MON — Dublo 21 pass from Chayce Schaub (Ruffing run)

MON — Ruffing 19 run (kick failed)

MON — Ruffing 58 run (Ruffing run)

NL — Hess 1 run (Gaskill kick)

MON — Adam Rogers 4 run (Gunner Howell kick)

MON — Schaub 1 run (Howell kick)

Willard 18, St. Mary C.C. 13

WILLARD — The Crimson Flashes bounced back from last week’s last-minute loss at Margaretta with a homecoming win over visiting St. Mary Central Catholic in SBC River division action.

The Panthers (2-4, 1-2) opened with a 15-yard scoring toss from Vincenzo Will to Aiden Fullum, with James McClung’s PAT at the 5:53 mark of the first quarter giving SMCC the 7-0 lead.

But in an instant, Willard’s Brevon Polachek got the Flashes (3-3, 2-1) on the board with an 82-yard kick return just 12 seconds later.

The kick failed, but the Flashes had pulled within 7-6.

With much of the second quarter a stalemate, the Flashes got a key score just before halftime. Quarterback Cooper Parrott threw a 27-yard TD pass to Polachek, though the try for two points failed on a pass attempt with 30 seconds left in the second quarter.

Leading 12-7 at halftime, the Flashes saw SMCC retake the lead on a 1-yard TD run by Nick Patchen with 4:38 left in the third quarter. The kick was no good, however, though the Panthers held the slim 13-12 lead.

Willard put together the winning points early in the fourth quarter. Parrott found Josh Stevens this time on an 11-yard scoring toss with 11:17 left int he game.

The pass attempt for two points failed, but the defense turned away SMCC the rest of the way to earn the win.